Nokia wants some of Apple's rhythm. On July 1 the Finnish mobile-phone maker said that Warner Music Group has agreed to participate in Nokia's fledgling music service, making Warner the third of the major record labels to join in the effort. The move is one more step in Nokia's effort to compete against Apple for the people who want to carry around music libraries in their pockets.
Nokia's service, which will officially launch in the second half of this year, is called Comes With Music. It will be built into certain Nokia handsets and will allow customers to download unlimited amounts of music from participating labels. The downloaded music can be kept on a PC or mobile-phone forever. In theory, a consumer could download every single song from the labels' catalogs; they'd simply need a very big hard drive on which to store the files. Nokia and its partners have not disclosed pricing for the service, but they believe it has plenty of potential. "We believe this will be a significant contributor of revenue over a long-term basis for Nokia," says Liz Schimel, global head of music for Nokia.
(Almost) All Aboard
The record labels seem to be buying that argument. Universal Music Group in December signed up with Nokia, and Sony BMG Music Entertainment partnered with the service in April. A spokesperson for EMI Group, the sole major label yet to join, says the company is talking with Nokia, although no deal has been reached. Nokia says it is in talks with independent labels as well.
For the music industry, the Nokia venture represents a departure from the old ways of doing business. Susan Kevorkian, program director of consumer markets at research firm IDC, says there is "broader experimentation" as CD sales decline and music revenues slide overall. For record companies, it may...

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